82 FR 31079 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 127 (July 5, 2017)

As part of the Federal Government-wide ongoing effort to streamline how agencies request feedback from the public on services (also called ``service delivery''), we are proposing to renew a generic information collection request (generic ICR) entitled Generic Clearance for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on Agency Services (previously entitled Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery). This notice announces our intent to submit this generic ICR plan to OMB for renewed approval for another three years and solicits comments on specific aspects of the collection plan.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31079-31080]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14003]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

[NARA-2017-045]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of the Federal Government-wide ongoing effort to 
streamline how agencies request feedback from the public on services 
(also called ``service delivery''), we are proposing to renew a generic 
information collection request (generic ICR) entitled Generic Clearance 
for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on Agency Services (previously 
entitled Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery). This notice announces our intent to submit 
this generic ICR plan to OMB for renewed approval for another three 
years and solicits comments on specific aspects of the collection plan.

DATES: The deadline to submit comments is September 5, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov 
(follow the instructions on the Web site for submitting comments and 
include NARA-2017-045 in the title of your response).
     Email: [email protected] (include NARA-2017-045 
in the subject line).
     Fax: 301-713-7409 (include NARA-2017-045 in the subject 
line or on the cover sheet).
    We may make comments available to the public through the internet. 
For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of 
a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or 
proprietary information. If you send an email comment, the system will 
automatically your capture your email address and include it as part of 
the comment, which could be made available on the internet. Please note 
that, because this is a public comment process, we will disregard any 
routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication that 
might be included with the comment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact Tamee Fechhelm by phone 
at 301-713-1694, or by fax at 301-713-7409, with requests for 
additional information or copies of the proposed information collection 
and supporting statement.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Information Collection Process

    NARA invites the public and other Federal agencies to comment on 
information collections we propose to renew, including generic ones. We 
submit proposals to renew information collections first through a 
public comment period and then to OMB for review and approval pursuant 
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA; 44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). 
We will summarize or include in our request for OMB approval any 
comments you submit in response to this notice.

Request for Comments

    We invite comments on: (a) Whether collecting this information is 
necessary for proper performance of the agency's functions, including 
whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy 
of our estimate of the information collection's burden on respondents; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information we propose to collect; (d) ways to minimize the burden on 
respondents of collecting the information, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial 
resources people need to provide the information, including time to 
review instructions, process and maintain the information, search data 
sources, and respond.

Explanation of Generic ICRs

    A generic ICR is a request for OMB to approve a plan for conducting 
more than one information collection using very similar methods when 
(1) we can evaluate the need for and the overall practical utility of 
the data in advance, as part of the review of the proposed plan, but 
(2) we cannot determine the details of the specific individual 
collections until a later time. Most generic clearances cover 
collections that are voluntary, low-burden (based on a consideration of 
total burden, total respondents, or burden per respondent), and 
uncontroversial. This notice, for example, describes a general plan to 
gather views from the public through a series of customer satisfaction 
surveys in which we ask the public about certain agency activities or 
services and how well we are providing them. As part of this plan, we 
construct, distribute, and analyze the surveys in a similar manner, but 
customize each survey for the type of service it is measuring.
    Because we seek public comment on the plan, we do not need to seek 
public comment on each specific information collection that falls 
within the plan when we later develop the individual information 
collection. This saves the Government time and burden, and it 
streamlines our ability to gather performance feedback. However, we 
still submit each specific information collection (e.g., each survey) 
to OMB for review, in accordance with the terms of clearance set upon 
approval of the plan. OMB assesses the individual surveys for PRA 
requirements, ensures that they fit within the scope of this generic 
ICR plan, and includes the specific surveys in the PRA public docket 
prior to our use of them.

Specifics on This Information Collection

    Title: Generic Clearance for Collecting Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Services.
    Description: This generic information collection request allows us 
to gather qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an 
efficient, timely manner as part of our commitment to improve service 
delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean information that provides 
useful insights into customers' or stakeholders' perceptions and 
opinions, but not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results 
that we could generalize to the population. Qualitative feedback 
provides insights into perceptions, experiences, and expectations, 
provides an early warning of issues with service, or focuses attention 
on areas where communication, training, or operational changes might 
improve delivery of products or services. We will not use this 
qualitative generic clearance for quantitative information collections 
designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring 
trends over time or documenting program performance.
    Purpose: Collecting this information allows us to receive ongoing, 
collaborative, and actionable communications from our customers and 
stakeholders. We use customer feedback to plan efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service we offer

[[Page 31080]]

to the public. If we do not collect this information, vital feedback 
from customers and stakeholders on our services will be unavailable. 
The feedback we collect about our services include assessments of 
timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, plain language, 
courtesy, efficiency, and issue resolution.
    Conditions: We will submit a specific information collection for 
approval under this generic clearance only if it meets the following 
conditions:
     The collection is voluntary;
     The collection is low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and is low-cost for both the respondents 
and the Federal Government;
     The collection is non-controversial and does not raise 
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
     It is targeted to solicit opinions from respondents who 
have experience with the program or may have experience with the 
program in the near future;
     Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected 
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
     Information gathered will be used only internally for 
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not 
intended for release outside of the agency;
     Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
     Information gathered will yield qualitative information; 
the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically 
reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the 
population of study.
    As a general matter, information collections under this generic 
collection request will not result in any new system of records 
containing privacy information and will not ask questions of a 
sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious 
beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.
    Current actions: We currently have 18 surveys that have been 
approved by OMB under this generic ICR that are ongoing and will 
continue through the renewal period. Some of these surveys include the 
OGIS Customer Service Assessment, NPRC Survey of Customer Satisfaction, 
Training and Event Evaluation, Public Vaults Exhibition Survey, Boeing 
Learning Center Visit Drivers, History Hub Survey, Agency Assistance 
Project Feedback Survey, National Archives and Records Administration 
Customer Survey, and the National Outreach Program Initiative (NOPI) 
Master Survey.
    Type of review: Regular.
    Potential affected public: Anyone who uses NARA's services, 
programs, or facilities, including requesting personnel records, 
requesting historical, genealogical, or other archival records, using 
research rooms, requesting research or asking research questions, 
ordering and receiving reproductions, using FOIA dispute resolution 
services, using records management services, working with records 
management schedules, renting facilities, attending exhibitions, 
events, or open houses, using learning centers or educational 
materials, attending training, etc. This can include individuals and 
households, businesses and organizations, or state, local, or Tribal 
governments.
    Estimated number of respondents: We currently have approximately 
25,000 respondents annually to our 18 surveys. We are completely 
restructuring one of the surveys, the NPRC Survey of Customer 
Satisfaction, and migrating it from paper to online form. We anticipate 
that this will substantially increase the number of potential 
respondents to that survey from about 10,000 to 100,000 potential 
respondents. In addition, we expect to add and remove some additional 
surveys during the next three years, which might also result in a net 
decrease or increase in potential respondents. Therefore, we are 
projecting that between 120,000 and 150,000 respondents annually.
    Projected average estimates for the next three years:
    Average expected annual number of surveys: 12.
    Average projected number of respondents per survey: 12,994.
    Annual responses per respondent: 1.
    Frequency of response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 10-30 minutes, depending on the 
survey.
    Burden hours: 20,000-25,000.

Swarnali Haldar,
Executive for Information Services/CIO.
[FR Doc. 2017-14003 Filed 7-3-17; 8:45 am]
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